A DARLINGTON councillor has questioned whether the authority is making as much revenue as it can out of car parking in the town.

Speaking at a meeting of Darlington Council’s place scrutiny committee today (Thursday, December 18) Cllr Paul Harman asked whether the council’s resources team had looked into expanding on-street parking permit schemes to make more money.

His comments came in response to a presentation by the council’s director of economic growth, Ian Williams, who outlined the financial pressures facing the authority.

Mr Williams pointed out that the council has seen an overall reduction of 56 per cent in the amount it receives from government grants and that an extra £10.3m of savings needs to be made by 2016/17.

This is on top of the £25m budget cuts already implemented in recent years.

Cllr Harman asked whether there had been investigations into the amount of extra money the council could make by expanding chargeable residents’ parking zones and on-street parking areas.

He said: “I don’t think we are getting enough money out of car parking.

“If you look at it objectively, the council owns land, we as a society own streets, we allow people to park in the streets for nothing when some people have to pay.

“There is an unfairness about the distribution.”

He added: “It is a question of the fact that if Darlington owns the streets, then it is right that we should capitalise on that asset for all citizens.”

Cllr Paul Baldwin urged caution, saying: “If we put a car park meter on every street, nobody will come and the town centre will be empty.”

Mr Williams described parking as an emotive topic and said it was the number one concern amongst traders in the town centre.

He said that parking matters were “absolutely” reviewed on a regular basis.

“It is always a delicate balance and I think we have got it right,” he said.

“The town centre is the heart of Darlington and we need to keep it was vibrant as we can.”

Mr Williams added: “It isn’t an easy subject but we do review it on a regular basis; be assured we are doing what we can.”